– Chris Poli was walking around the locker room with his right arm in a sling after the game. Kowalsky seemed to think it was a reoccurence of his dislocated shoulder, and that he could be out through Christmas…I believe he says he could be out another 4-5 weeks somewhere in the chat.

– You’ll hear me ask him if he felt Jason Smith should have had the last two goals. I was speaking to someone about the second goal after the game, and that person said that the second goal was deflected on the way in. I could swear I saw that puck from the moment it left the blade of the stick to the moment it went through Smith’s legs and into the net, and I didn’t see it get tipped…but I’ve been wrong before, too. I’d love to see a replay of that goal or get anyone’s thoughts on it who was at the game. And if it was tipped, then my apologies to Smith. From my perspective, it looked like a soft goal.

– On the third goal, Kowalsky called out Matt Cohen by name and pointed out that his gap on the play was bad. He’s right. It was. When Van Guilder was at the blue line, he must have already been in the circle…he simply gave him way too much room. Smith has to get that shot, yes…but his D did him no favors.

Pre-Game Notes (LIVE from SBA): Room temperature pizza, obscure beverages and those awkward “who the hell are you” stares from most of the front office aside (guys, you can actually say hi to me, I’m not a bad guy), I haven’t been looking forward to a Trenton Devils game this much in about a month.

It’s a must win…yesterday’s dramatic victory means nothing if they can’t carry the momentum from that through the weekend.

I should have some more information for you right before game time, so stay tuned for that. The projected goalie matchup is Charlie Effinger vs. Martin Houle.

3:40 PM — Jason Smith gets the surprise start in net instead of Effinger. He has to know that his job is on the line, right? So here’s hoping he comes out with that in mind…

Eric Castonguay is back, and it looks like Mark O’Leary has been traded…

Photos coming shortly.

Around The ECHL:

Around The Division:

Live Box Score: Click here for the ECHL.com updated boxscore from tonight’s game.

Radio Broadcast: Click here to listen to Paul Roper’s radio broadcast of tonight’s game.

First Period: O’Leary was traded to Augusta, a franchise that may not exist too much longer if the papers are right…

16:30 left — Not a whole lot going on so far in the first…both teams have gone back and forth, with Cincinnati probably controlling the play a little more than Trenton. But nobody’s had anything resembling a scoring chance just yet.

14:58 left — Trenton gets a decent chance when Tyler Burton tips a little soft shot from Ryan Gunderson at the point, but Martin Houle makes the stop. Houle’s still wearing his Flyers gear, by the way.

14:32 left — Jason Smith gets on the scoresheet with a glove save off of his left pad on a Mark Van Guilder shot.

13:24 left — Tyler Burton appears to be having another one of those games where he’s establishing himself as the best player in a white uniform…he had another nice shot on goal that Houle stopped.

10:59 left — Robert Page in the box for a trip…first PP of the game for Cincy.

6:07 left — Dan Eves scores on a rocket from just inside the left circle, but Tyler Burton made the play happen. He did exactly what the coaching staff wants, being aggressive and tying up his man on a loose puck…it squirted out to Eves, and he fired home a rocket in the top right corner. 1-0, Trenton. Eves’ first pro goal.

3:53 left — Burton is flying out there right now. He pretty much just circled the perimeter of the offensive zone, and found himself with a wide open lane through the right side…he had a nice chance, but Houle again made the stop, forcing Burton to look skyward.

1-0, Trenton, after one. Shots are 8-7, Devils.

Second Period:

18:47 left — Eric Castonguay set up a nice chance for Kevin Cormier, with Martin Houle way out of position…but Cormier couldn’t corral the puck for a shot, and Cincinnati remains down just one.

17:55 left — Trenton’s on their first PP of the game…odd considering this was the same, infraction-happy ref from last night.

11:42 left — Trenton had a few nice chances on that PP, with…you guessed it, Tyler Burton having another chance on a play to the side of the net, but no dice. Still 1-0. Not a whole lot of flow to this game right now…

9:30 left — Kevin Cormier’s been getting a lot of ice time after an apparent early injury to Chris Poli…can’t say he’s really been making the most of it.

6:25 left — Well, he isn’t perfect. Burton’s in the box, giving Cincinnati a much-needed man advantage…must say, Trenton’s been playing some fairly stingy D in front of Smitty tonight.

1-0, Trenton through two. They played with a lead for a whole period and didn’t give it away. Color me impressed…

Third Period:

17:00 left — Not a whole lot going on at the moment. I guess it kind of goes without saying considering he has the game’s only goal, but Dan Eves is looking pretty good tonight as well. Probably the best game I’ve seen him play so far.

14:38 left — Chris Dyment takes a tripping penalty…right after the ref raises his arm, I look over to the bench and see Rick Kowalsky throw his arms up in disgust.

13:59 left — Trevor Kell makes it 2-0, Trenton on a shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1 with Jim Henkel. Kell broke up a pass at the blue line, and got around the diving defenseman to create the odd-man rush. Kell passed to Henkel, who then fed it back to Kell, who made a nice deke around Houle to stuff it in the net.

11:51 left — And that Kell goal is now huge, as Olivier Latendresse has cut the lead to one after an easy stuff-in chance on the edge of the right side of the crease. That’s Latendresse’s 14th goal in 19 games.

5:42 left — Smith finally let in somewhat of a softie, allowing a goal on a slapper from the blue line from Barret Ehgoetz with no screen in front of him. It simply beat him through the legs. He wasn’t playing that bad…but that’s a tough one to take. Tied at 2.

1:00 left — Castonguay’s been looking a step slow for this third period…

Tied at two after 60 minutes of play…Trenton’s going into overtime at home for the first time this season.

Overtime:

3:57 left — Mark Van Guilder wins it on a simple wrist shot on the rush…Smith may have been screened by his own man, but he’s got to make the big save there. But he got Trenton a point, at least.

Final Score: 3-2, Cyclones, OT.

Three Stars:

* Van Guilder
** Latendresse
*** Kell

Post-Game Notes: Lou Lamoriello was in attendance…quotes from Rick Kowalsky coming later tonight

For the first 20 minutes, it looked like each team was in a different league. Florida looked every bit like the team that hadn’t lost in 10 straight, and for the most part, Trenton looked just like the team I’d seen find countless ways to lose at Sovereign Bank Arena.

“After the first period, I’m sure a lot of people thought we were going to pack it in,” said Devils head coach Rick Kowalsky.

It would be hard not to be thinking that way after the team was down 5-2 after the first 20 minutes. Chris Poli scored on a partial breakaway and Tyler Burton scored on a full breakaway for the Devils, but there was little else to celebrate for the first period.

On the next stoppage after Burton’s goal, Florida starting goalie Anton Khudobin was lifted in favor of David Leggio, despite his team having a 3-2 lead at the time.

Ryan Lang would score roughly two minutes after the goalie change, and Jacob Micflikier scored his second goal of the night to give the Everblades their three goal advantage through the first frame.

But Trenton would battle back with goals from David Leaderer, Poli and Jeff Prough to tie the game at five heading into the third period.

Both teams traded power play goals early in the third period before Burton scored the game-winner and notched his first professional hat trick on a rebound from a Dan Eves shot.

A handful of hats were thrown onto the ice — something the home fans certainly didn’t do earlier in the period when Micflikier finished off a hat trick of his own.

“It was a great feeling,” Burton said.

“I couldn’t have done it without some hard work from my linemates tonight. The three of us I thought played really well together, and we were able to grind them down and get some good chances.”

Trenton may finally be starting to turn the corner, as they’ve picked up at least a point in three straight games for the first time all season.

“For the first time, we’re starting to get healthy,” Burton said.

“Once we’re a healthy team, we can kind of get some chemistry going with the lines and stuff, and I think that’s part of the reason for our success.”

Although this type of come-from-behind win could certainly spark some much needed positive momentum for this team, Kowalsky pointed to the 1-0 win in Reading where things started to turn around.

“That was a hard, physical game,” said Kowalsky of the Wednesday night game.

“There’s no question we feel a little bit of momentum here, but it stems from Wednesday. We’ve just talked about being hard to play against, and establishing a hard, physical forecheck. Our game tonight was to take it to them physically, because you don’t want to get caught in a run and gun game.”

Notes: Kowalsky would not commit to starting Charlie Effinger tomorrow, saying he needed to look at the tape of the game…Kowalsky described Gerald Coleman as “day-to-day” and “questionable” for next week. I spoke to Coleman after the game, and he said he injured his groin when he caught a rut in the ice trying to make a save. He said he won’t return to skating until Monday at the earliest, and said it seems unlikely he’ll be ready for next weekend…Eric Castonguay may be on his way back from Lowell. If that’s the case, I think you could see Thomas Harrison join Scott Bartlett on the dreaded healthy scratch list. Harrison and Kevin Cormier essentially serve the same purpose, and Cormier seems to be a better skater.

D Gord Burnett has been traded to Phoenix…considering G Gerald Coleman was acquired from the Roadrunners, I’d say Burnett would be serving as the “future considerations” on the deal.

As for Coleman, his injury is not believed to be serious, and he may be back as soon as next week.

D Chris Dyment is also expected back tonight.

Around The ECHL:

Around The Division:

Live Box Score: Click here for the ECHL.com updated boxscore from tonight’s game.

Radio Broadcast: Click here to listen to Paul Roper’s radio broadcast of tonight’s game.

First Period: Won’t be able to do a lot of live-blogging today…left my power cord at home. Wise choice on my part. But I’ll have any videos and whatnot available at some point, perhaps during the game…

5-2 after one period of play. Check youtube.com/mashmore98 for videos, including one of the Florida goals. One of the goalies was pulled with about five minutes to go in the first…Charlie Effinger? Nope, Anton Khudobin. Odd. Burton and Kell with the Trenton goals.

Second Period: 5-5 after two. Yes, really. 5-5. Leaderer, Poli and Prough with the goals.

Third Period: They do the unthinkable and come from behind to win, 7-6.

(PR) A late third period goal by the Johnstown Chiefs forced overtime, though the Trenton Devils were unable to hold off the Chiefs in the shootout as the Chiefs won 3-2 Friday night at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

Johnstown went on the board first with a goal 3:56 into the contest, as Andrew Sarauer deflected in a pass from Ryan Del Monte.

The Devils tied the game on the power play with 2:10 left in the second period as Jeff Prough banged in a rebound from in front of the net.

Jeremy Akeson put the Devils in the lead 11 seconds into the third period when he stole the puck in the Chiefs zone and fired a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Kris Mayotte.

Trenton to be in control of the game until Chris Poli took a slashing penalty with 2:30 left in regulation. During the penalty kill, goaltender Gerald Coleman was injured in a collision at the crease, putting Charlie Effinger into the game.

The Chiefs pulled their goalie for the extra attacker in the final minute, and after several opportunities, it would be Ryan Del Monte who put in the tying goal with 30 seconds to go.

In the deciding shootout, the two teams traded a pair of goals in the first ten rounds. In the 11th round, Petr Pohl backhanded a puck short side past Effinger to give Johnstown the win.

Ashmore Note: Kevin Cormier was activated off the IR prior to the game.

The handful of Trenton Devils fans who actually read this blog Many Trenton Devils fans will be thankful for this latest move, as the team has shipped off defenseman Dan McGoff to Stockton.

Additionally, forward Chris Poli has been activated off of injured reserve.

McGoff and Poli were actually teammates at Noble and Greenough School in Massachusetts, a private middle school and high school.

McGoff had an assist in 12 games, and was also a minus nine. He seemed very mistake prone, and uhhh…you know, that’s not exactly a good thing.

As for Poli, the Brown alum was 3-1-4 in his first five games with the T-Devils this season before getting hurt. He’ll likely end up on one of the top two lines, and will be relied upon to continue to produce in the way he was before his injury.

Trenton returns to action in Johnstown tonight before returning to SBA for back-to-back games against Florida and Cincinnati this weekend.

While the league issued a statement denying a Charlotte Observer report that the team was disbanding, and the Lynx’s co-owner and general manager also denied the report, he also didn’t paint a very pretty picture in the process.

“We’re playing in Gwinnett on Thursday and playing at home this weekend,” Dan Troutman told the paper. “I’m not going to tell you there’s no substance to it, because we have been struggling to keep things going, but we’re still here.”

“We’re pretty well on our budget for this year, but the cash flow coming in and out has made it tight,” he said. “We’ve only had two weekend home games so far, and that’s hurt, but we’re going to keep fighting. We’re very hopeful that we’ll continue on.”

Trenton is scheduled to play in Augusta on March 3rd as part of a road trip down south, in which they’ll also visit South Carolina, Gwinnett and Charlotte.

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